Chapter 2 - THE CHILD WHO WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO EXIST
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I couldn't hear the hallway anymore.
Everything narrowed to the sound of my own breathing.
“My embryos?”
Victor nodded.
“Several were preserved.”
“Where?”
“That's what we're investigating.”
Evan stepped toward him.
“This is confidential medical information.”
Victor looked at him.
“Not when the records were altered in connection with fraud.”
“You don't know what you're talking about.”
“Oh, I do.”
Victor pulled another file from the envelope.
“This one concerns the fertility clinic you used.”
My stomach tightened.
I remembered it.
A polished private clinic outside Boston.
White marble.
Soft music.
A receptionist who smiled too much.
Evan had chosen the doctor.
He had told me the physician was one of the best in the country.
I had trusted him.
Victor opened a spreadsheet.
“Three embryos were created.”
I stared.
“I was told there was one viable embryo.”
“That's what you were told.”
My hands began shaking.
“Why?”
“Because someone changed the lab report.”
Marissa whispered:
“Evan…”
He turned toward her.
“Don't.”
She stepped back.
“Tell her the truth.”
“You don't know the truth.”
“I know enough.”
Victor looked at me.
“The clinic transferred one embryo into a surrogate.”
I stopped breathing.
“A surrogate?”
“Yes.”
“Without my consent?”
“Yes.”
“And the baby…”
Victor turned toward Lucas.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
I couldn't speak.
Marissa began crying.
“No.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
She shook her head.
“He told me Lucas was ours.”
I couldn't move.
Evan's voice became sharp.
“Enough.”
Victor continued:
“The child was born eleven months ago.”
“That's not possible.”
“It is.”
I stared at Lucas.
Same soft curls.
Same tiny hands.
Then I looked at his face.
There was something familiar.
Not enough to prove anything.
But enough to hurt.
Victor lowered his voice.
“DNA testing indicates that Lucas is genetically related to Claire Bennett.”
The world tilted.
I grabbed the chair beside me.
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Your stored embryo.”
My eyes filled with tears.
Evan stared at the floor.
Marissa looked shattered.
“You knew,” I whispered.
He didn't answer.
“You knew that child came from my embryo.”
Evan's silence became unbearable.
“You knew.”
Finally he spoke.
“I knew there was a chance.”
“A chance?”
“I thought the embryo had been abandoned.”
Victor looked disgusted.
“You purchased the transfer.”
Evan's face hardened.
“Don't.”
“You transferred the embryo into a surrogate without Claire's informed consent.”
“I was desperate.”
I laughed once.
“Desperate?”
“I wanted a family.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“You wanted control.”
He flinched.
Victor opened another document.
“This is the payment record.”
I looked down.
The transfer had been funded by an account in Evan's name.
But the money didn't come from him.
It came from a company.
Carlisle Family Holdings.
A private company owned by Evan's father.
I felt sick.
“So his family knew.”
Victor nodded.
“They knew before Lucas was born.”
Marissa covered her mouth.
“I was never supposed to know,” she whispered.
I looked at her.
“Why did you believe Lucas was yours?”
“Evan said the surrogate process was confidential.”
“And you trusted him.”
She nodded.
I wanted to hate her.
But she looked devastated.
Not triumphant.
Devastated.
Victor placed another document on the table.
“This is the strangest part.”
“What?”
“The embryo transfer was part of a legal strategy.”
I frowned.
“What legal strategy?”
He handed me a trust agreement.
My father's name appeared at the bottom.
I stared.
“My father?”
Victor nodded.
“Your father established a medical trust before his death.”
“What does it have to do with Lucas?”
“The trust contains a clause protecting any biological descendants conceived using your preserved embryos.”
My heart stopped.
“Protecting them from what?”
“Control.”
Victor looked at Evan.
“Your ex-husband wanted access to the trust.”
I stared.
“What trust?”
“The Bennett Children's Medical Foundation.”
I remembered my father's foundation.
He had created it after my mother died.
It funded pediatric surgeries.
Research grants.
Medical scholarships.
I had been a board member.
But I had never realized how much money was involved.
Victor continued:
“The trust is worth approximately ninety million dollars.”
Evan's face went white.
I understood.
Lucas wasn't just a child.
He was a legal descendant with a claim.
Evan hadn't simply wanted a family.
He had wanted an heir.
He had used my embryos.
He had lied about my fertility.
He had married Marissa.
And he had introduced Lucas to me like a trophy because he believed I would never know the truth.
I looked at him.
“Why show me Lucas at all?”
Evan's expression changed.
“Because I wanted you to feel what you lost.”
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“You wanted me to sign away my rights.”
He said nothing.
Victor nodded.
“That is exactly what the documents show.”
I felt something inside me settle.
The grief was gone.
What remained was clarity.
“You made me believe I couldn't have children.”
I looked at Lucas.
“You took my biological child.”
Then at Evan.
“You used him to hurt me.”
Evan's face hardened.
“You can't prove any of that.”
Victor smiled.
“We don't have to.”
May you like
He held up the DNA report.
“The science already did.”
